Tubular
by KhallieGurl
Summary: Blu, Jewel, Nico, Pedro, and the kids are watching boaters out on the ocean-and subsequently get an idea of how to spend the afternoon.
1. Chapter 1

Hello readers! I have no notes, except that as usual, my story turned out longer than I'd planned. I could've made it all one super-long chapter, but I'm trying NOT to do that anymore, and so...it shall be two chapters! Still meant to be just a short, cute little story.

* * *

><p>Linda yelped as her new sunhat flew off, blowing away with the intense breeze. She scrabbled to save the only layer of protection between her and the merciless Brazilian sun, just managing to grab onto the edge of the straw hat before it could float through the wind and into the water.<p>

"Tulio!" she cried. "Slow down!"

"What? Why?" the ornithologist called back. The rushing wind whipped his words away, leaving only the echo of his question for Linda to decipher.

Luckily, she didn't have a problem with it, as she was sitting behind him and was able to catch the gist of his shouts. "My hat just fell off! And you're going to hit something!"

"Linda dear, it's the open ocean!" Tulio yelled, turning around to face his girlfriend. "It's not like driving, there's nothing else I can possibly hit out here!"

"BOAT!"

"Yes, we're on a boat."

"YOU'RE GOING TO HIT A BOAT!"

Tulio faced forward again to see a yacht about 10 feet in front of him. He yelped and twisted the wheel hard to the right. The speedboat veered, almost tipping the entire company inside. Although they missed the yacht, Tulio had managed to steer the boat straight into a wave from another motorboat, rocking their own and sending Linda and Fernando to the floor. The sides of the wave sprayed up from impact, falling into the boat like rain and dousing everyone inside.

Tulio slowed down and stopped, leaving the boat bobbing in the water. He looked sheepishly at his girlfriend and adopted son. "That boat came out of _nowhere._"

* * *

><p>"And that is why we stayed on land today," Blu said assertively, pointing at the speedboat in the middle of the ocean rocking back and forth on the waves. "Speedboats go dangerously fast, and they hit waves, and then they get holes and they capsize."<p>

"What? It's _made _to go on the water. Waves aren't going to drill holes into the bottom and sink it!" Nico yelled from behind the sandcastle he and Pedro were building. "That would be a horribly made boat."

"We mostly just didn't want to be in a boat that Tulio insisted on driving," Jewel said flatly, lying on the sand with Abelina.

"That's a fair point."

"But to pass up on a _speedboat _ride?" Pedro asked incredulously. "That would have been _so cool!_"

"Yes. Yes it would've been." Jewel shot a glance towards Blu.

"_It's a boat that rises almost all the way up from the water! _How is that safe?" Blu yelled.

"Because it's _meant _to do that."

"It's meant to be dangerous?"

Jewel rolled her eyes. "You are such a scaredy-cat."

"You're comparing me to a cat? I resent that."

"Papa, you're scared of everything," Javier said glumly. "I wanted to go on the boat ride…"

"Excuse me for keeping my family safe."

"Even Rey wanted to go."

Rey scowled. "What do you mean _even _Rey?"

"You're like Papa, you're scared of everything."

"AM NOT."

"Guys, how about we rephrase 'scaredy-cat' to 'family protector'?" Blu asked his sons.

Nico and Pedro chuckled from behind their castle. By now, the turrets and walls were a rather impressive height, blocking both birds from view.

"Do you find something funny?" Blu asked, going up to the castle threateningly, although he couldn't see either of the birds laughing.

"You worry too much, Tyler!"

Blu glowered at Nico's use of his full name. "You can't hide forever," he said, poking the surprisingly thick sand wall that surrounded the fortress.

"You can't get us in the castle, Tyler!" Nico sang.

"Just watch me! Um…Nic…Nicholas!"

"Nice try, but Nico's not short for anything!"

"What? Yeah it is," Pedro said.

"No it's not." Nico spoke a little too quickly for anyone to believe him.

"Blu—" Pedro was cut off by furious scuffling sounds that strongly suggested Nico was trying desperately to cover Pedro's mouth. "BLU!" the cardinal shouted over the noise. "IT'S SHORT FOR NICHOLAI!"

Blu started laughing. "Like the Russian czar?"

Nico roughly shoved Pedro outside the protective wall. "You are no longer allowed inside the castle."

"What? But it's cool in there! I want to come back in," the cardinal whined.

"You should have thought of that before you betrayed me."

Blu was still laughing. "Aw, don't start a revolution, Nicholai."

"Shut up, Tyler!"

_ "_Don't send your royal Russian guards after me."

Nico screamed in frustration and remained behind his wall as Pedro and Blu snickered.

Blu was about to take another dig at the sulking canary when Javier shouted, "WOW! Papa, look at that!"

Everyone glanced towards the water, where Javier was gesturing. Another speedboat, a little ways away from Tulio, Linda, and Fernando's, was speeding along at about 30 miles per hour, bouncing over the waves. But behind the speedboat, ricketing in its wake, was a little round thing carrying a person.

"What is that?"

"Oh, that person's tubing," Pedro explained. "You hook up an inner tube to a boat and then just ride it."

"It looks awesome," Javier cooed, eyes wide with awe.

"Mama, look at how fast it's going!" Abelina said, nudging her mother's shoulder.

"I see," Jewel replied.

Just then, the tube hit a wave particularly hard, propelling the tuber off his rubber water vehicle and into the churning waves.

"It looks dangerous," Blu stated.

The tuber popped up from the water, waving towards the speedboat, which turned around and brought the tube back.

"Nah, he's fine," Pedro said. "Look, he's goin' back on."

The tuber had indeed climbed back onto his tube, flashing the thumbs-up sign to the people in the speedboat. They waved back and started the boat again, pulling the tube behind them.

"Papa, can we do that?" Javier asked.

"No."

"But it looks like so much fun!"

"Besides the obvious danger factor, there's no way we could. A human speedboat and a human tube are too big."

Javier hung his head glumly. Rey and Abelina looked equally defeated.

Nico peeked out from behind the sandcastle and went to stand next to Blu. "I think I know a way," he suggested.

* * *

><p>"That's insane," Blu said, directing his reprimand at Nico and Pedro, who had returned to their spot on the beach with three tiny black tubes covered in gray tape.<p>

"No it's not! The pillow worked perfectly!" Nico exclaimed.

"And we had no problem getting it out of Tulio's office," Pedro said, smirking and pointing with his thumb at the humans' speedboat still floating on the water.

Jewel scrutinized the makeshift tubes. "I didn't even know Tulio _had _one of those butt-pillow things..."

"Well you obviously aren't very observant."

"This really just raises more questions than answers…"

Seeing Blu's skeptical look, Nico jumped into an explanation. "All we did was cut the pillow into three separate pieces. Then we covered the holes."

"Yeah, with _duct tape._"

"Duct tape is the strongest thing known to man and bird alike," Nico defended.

"Fine, what about handholds?"

"We stuck toothpicks in it." Nico gestured towards he and Pedro's handiwork excitedly.

"…that is so dangerous."

"Aw, come on!" Pedro cried, kicking up sand. "The kids want to go."

Javier, Rey, and Abelina nodded emphatically, aiming their pleading eyes up at their father.

"There's no way to pull them anyway." Blu clung to this hope desperately.

"Oh, isn't there?" Nico's eyes gleamed as he turned to the right, where four seagulls were chatting a few yards away. "OI! GUYS!"

They turned and recognized Nico and Pedro, waving furiously. They flew over, and Nico introduced the seagulls, Pablo, Hugo, Louis, and Jorge, to the Blue Macaws.

"Listen, guys, we got a favor to ask ya," Pedro said.

"Yeah?"

He pointed onto the water, where a tuber whooped as he sped across the waves. "We made tubes. Now we need something to make them go. If we found some rope, do you think you guys could pull the kids?"

Pablo glanced at the water. "Oh yeah. I think we could manage."

"NICE! We'll pay you," Pedro said.

"With what?"

"…I don't know. But we'll pay you."

Pablo laughed. "All right. This'll be fun."

The kids whooped, sheer delight replacing the disappointment from a mere hour ago.

"Wait wait WAIT," Blu said. "I never gave my permission!"

The disappointment returned. "Please, Papa?" they begged as one.

"Riding at high speeds on a flimsy tube made from a _butt-pillow _and _duct tape_? No!"

Water started to well up in all three of the children's eyes.

"Guys, it's too danger—"

"Oh, Blu, lighten up," Jewel broke in. "It's not as dangerous as you're making it out to be. Why can't they go?"

"_Not as dangerous_? Are you kidding?"

"No. They'll be fine. Right, kids?" She turned to the children, who had bounced back to the positive end of the emotional spectrum.

"Yeah!"

"You just have to promise to be careful. And I mean _really _careful."

Blu sidled over to Jewel. "Jewel—"

"Blu, the gulls will be gentle. They're not going to fly as fast as they possibly can just to knock the kids off. The tubes look fine, they can swim, and you usually worry too much. Let them _do _something for once."

Blu looked unsure.

"If it helps, I won't go too fast and I won't go too deep," Pablo offered.

Blu still looked unsure. Jewel gently kissed his cheek. "For me?"

"Fine…" he muttered.

"AWWWWWWW," Nico and Pedro cooed simultaneously.

Blu glared at the duo. They retreated back to their sandcastle. The kids, on the other hand, bounced right up to their parents screaming thank you's and general proclamations of the high quality of their parenting.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, the kids were situated on a makeshift tube each, waving to everyone on the shore. Rope had been found, one end taped to each of the three tubes and the other ends tied tightly around Pablo's feet. Pablo, who had assured he could pull all three tiny children on his own, waded in the water, waiting for the okay signal.<p>

Blu gulped as the kids gave the thumbs-up. Pablo flapped his wings, sending him into the air and the water behind him into small waves that swelled beneath the tubes. The kids giggled, grabbing hold of the toothpicks and balancing on their knees.

Pablo gained speed, and so did the tubes. Whoops and hollers sounded as the Blue Macaws sped across the water, clearly enthralled with their new physical pastime.

"See Blu? Everything's going okay," Jewel comforted.

"MAMA! PAPA! LOOK AT ME!" Javier cried, letting go of the toothpicks. He didn't balance long, and he promptly fell off when he hit a small wave.

"JAVIER!" Blu yelled, almost diving into the water to go rescue his son. Jewel grabbed his arm.

"Blu, he's fine! See?"

Javier had popped up from beneath the water and was waving to his parents to let them know he was all right. Pablo slowed down and turned, guiding the tube back to the floating chick. Javier scrambled back on while the seagull hovered in mid-air, flashed the thumbs-up, and Pablo started flying again.

Blu exhaled, relief visibly etched over his features.

Nico leaned against his friend. "See? Nothin' to worry about."

"Those tubes of yours better hold up, Nicholai."

Nico frowned at Blu, then turned lethally towards Pedro. "Why did you tell him my full name?"

"I didn't know it was a secret."

"LIES."

Blu looked to Jewel and the couple shared a silent laugh. It was nice to hear the friends in a nonchalant argument when last week they had gotten into the worst fight their friendship had ever weathered. A prank war between the two had spiraled out of control, ending with hurt feelings on both ends and a lot of drama (mostly on Nico's part). Although they were closer than ever now, it had taken flying through a sky of fireworks and thwarting a monkey attack on The Branch to return their friendship to its normal indomitable state. Blu could still see the singe marks on the two's feathers, and was very glad they had decided to seek medical attention the day after their fight, even though the humans had said the worst the cardinal and the canary had suffered were bruised bones, and in Nico's case, a raspy cough that had lasted a week.

The canary in question had somehow managed to craft a sandball out of the sand on the beach and was now hurling it at Pedro. Pedro ducked, scooped up sand to make his own, and threw it back at the canary. Nico ran to the side and returned yet another. The fight continued for a few minutes, both birds yelling insults at each other across the beach. It promptly ended when Pedro ducked from one of Nico's sandballs, leaving their sandcastle exposed. The ball of sand continued past Pedro and connected solidly with the castle.

The wall disintegrated, leaving a gaping hole in what had otherwise been an architectural masterpiece.

Nico and Pedro stared at the collapse dumbly for a second. Then it registered.

"NOOOOO!"

"NICO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Nico and Pedro ran to their sandcastle, trying desperately to scoop up the remnants of the wall to construct anew.

"Why did you DUCK?" Nico shouted accusingly.

"Because you were throwing a sandball at me! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO OUR BEAUTIFUL CASTLE!"

"I'm a monster!" Nico lamented as he tearfully let the sand from the walls of the castle sift through his fingers.

Blu struggled to keep his laughter to a minimum as he turned again to Jewel, who wasn't even trying to hide her loud laughter.

"Too bad Rafael's kids got sick," Blu snorted. "He would love this."

"He'd like to see the kids tubing, too."

Blu turned back to the water. Oh yeah. His children were fighting certain death.

Actually, they didn't look to be in too much danger. On the contrary, they were shouting gleefully, and so far only Javier had fallen off.

"Well…at least they seem to be staying on all right," he admitted.

"Rey has fallen off, like, three times."

"WHAT? When was this?"

"While you were watching the generals over there duke it out with sand."

Blu grimaced. Nico and Pedro, who were now practically crying in the remains of their demolished sandcastle, had proved to be a rather effective distraction.

"And yet," Jewel continued. "Rey is still alive."

Well…there was that.

Jewel saw his still anxious expression. "Blu, they're going to be fine. They've _been _fine."

"Let's just see if it stays that way."

* * *

><p>It stayed that way. About an hour later, Pablo flew the kids in. Both the seagull and the children were exhausted. All four of them nearly collapsed on the beach.<p>

"Nice work, kids," Pablo said, offering his wing for a high five. All three slapped his hand, and he laughed. "You guys are light, but _man, _that was tiring."

Jewel smiled as her kids ran up to her.

"Did you see me, Mama?"

"Yes, Javier. You were impressive."

"Papa, Papa! That was so much fun!"

"I'm just glad you're okay, Abelina…"

Pablo pulled the tubes in from the water, disconnecting the rope from his feet. "We ready to pull these in?"

Blu nodded affirmatively, but Nico and Pedro quickly shouted and ran in front of him.

"Um…do you think we could have a go?"

* * *

><p>And now the fun begins. Reviews are much appreciated.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Wow. It's about time I updated, right? I cannot shunt ALL of the blame onto technology, but...I'm going to anyway. My document uploader wasn't working right, meaning I couldn't edit anything, and I was only able to solve it today! Stupid browser. Thank you, James of .

Now, I have to confess something. I am a liar and I apparently couldn't write anything short if my life depended on it. This is not the last chapter of Tubular like I promised. The story will have 3 chapters. And I SWEAR I'm cutting it off at 3! I meant to make this chapter longer and just cut it off here, but I really liked the way this ended, and I'm also still trying to buy myself time for the next Rio story. So if any of you had your heart set on a 2-chapter story, from the blackest part of my heart, I'M SORRY.

On with the show!

* * *

><p>"GO, JORGE!"<p>

"NOT. YET." The frustrated seagull turned around and glared at Pedro. "The ropes aren't fastened. CALM DOWN."

Pedro sulked from his tube. "But I wanna go _now_…"

"Wait, like, two minutes."

"Fine."

From the shore, the Blue Macaw children lay on their bellies, (Rey wearing Nico's bottle cap), chins resting in their hands. Their arms, strained from holding onto the tubes moments earlier, wobbled. Although Blu and Jewel had said they could go home whenever the tired children wanted, the kids in question had seemed extremely offended at the prospect of surrendering to a little exhaustion.

Pablo the seagull, who had pulled all three of the kids for close to an hour, sat next to them. Abelina turned to the bigger bird. "Mr. Pablo? Thank you for pulling us," she said sweetly.

"You're welcome, kiddo." He smirked at Hugo and Jorge, now wading in the water and double-checking that the ropes attaching Nico and Pedro's tubes weren't going to break mid-run. "I got it easy. You guys are light and I couldn't go too fast with you, anyway. Hugo and Jorge are going to have fun with this."

"What does that mean?"

"It means they don't have worried parents holding them back."

"ARE YOU DONE YET?" Pedro called.

Jorge rolled his eyes and looked at Hugo, who had just finished making sure he was properly attached to Nico's tube. "Do you want to go, Pedro?"

"YES!"

"ALL RIGHT!"

With that last emphatic yell, Jorge and Hugo simultaneously propelled themselves up from the water. The violent flap of their wings sent considerably larger swells towards the tubes than Pablo's had, and Nico and Pedro cheered as they rose over the waves. It took only seconds for their speed to go from stationary to about five miles per hour—a considerable speed for two rather little birds.

Nico and Pedro whooped throughout the straightaway, waving to the kids watching on the beach. From their peripherals, Hugo and Jorge noticed they were only holding on with one hand, and promptly took advantage of this: the gulls veered directly to the right, whipping the tubes along with them. The speed went from about five to roughly ten miles per hour with the one violent turn.

As a result, Nico and Pedro bounced dangerously on top of the tubes, scrabbling to grab the toothpicks as they whipped in a circle. They just barely managed to stay on, both of them dropping to their stomachs in an effort to stay at least halfway out of the water.

The whip sent Nico's tube soaring in Pedro's direction. Pedro, registering the speed at which the duct-taped pillow was flying, instinctively started yelping.

"DON'T HIT ME!"

Nico didn't have time to respond before his tube knocked against Pedro's, the velocity the former had gathered sending the latter careening even farther along the whip. Pedro scrabbled to hold on as he more or less flew through the air.

Jorge and Hugo straightened out a little bit, and Pedro's tube was sent roaring back towards Nico. The canary, quickly registering the speed at which Pedro's tube was soaring his way, braced himself for impact.

Pedro smacked solidly into Nico's tube. The power gathered through speed alone sent Nico racing across the tiny waves, but the added weight difference gave the hit such force that Nico couldn't possibly hold on—he lost his grip and flew diagonally across the water, finally going under a few feet away.

Blu sharply inhaled from the shore, wondering why Jewel and his children were laughing.

"Is he—"

Jewel coolly cut him off. "Look, Blu, he's completely fine."

Nico had popped up, waving to the seagulls so they could see him through the water. "PEDRO! It's on!"

"You can't take all this!" The cardinal cried, striking a victory pose from atop his tube.

Nico clambered onto his own, shaking the excess water off his feathers. "I don't think you understand what you've just done."

"What, incited the rage of Nicholai?"

Nico glowered as Jorge and Hugo started flying, necessitating that he and Pedro drop to their knees. The seagulls built up their speed again, and Nico and Pedro laughed with exhilaration.

Blu, however, had just started to calm down. "Okay…they look like they're going to be fine…"

"That's because they are," Jewel laughed. "You worry way too much."

"Maybe I do…"

"BLU! JEWEL! CHECK THIS OUT!" Pedro and Nico were now tubing back past the spectators on the beach. Pedro, closer to shore, stood atop his tube without holding on. "NO HANDS!"

Jorge and Hugo shared another smug glance and sent the tubers through another whip, this one more violent than the first. Pedro didn't stand a chance: the tube practically disappeared underneath him, tripping the cardinal and sending him flying off diagonally, straight into Nico.

Nico, assessing the situation a split second before it happened, ducked. Pedro soared over the top of the canary and hit the water, making a rather impressive splash.

Nico laughed from his tube. "Serves you right!"

Pedro grimaced as he swam back towards his own tube. "Whatever, that was incredibly impressive."

"That was pretty impressive, Pedro!" Jewel called.

He smirked. "See?"

"Hey! Guys!"

"What's up, lady bird?"

"Mind if I join you?"

"ALL RIGHT!" Nico, Pedro, and the kids yelled as Blu sputtered incoherently.

"Jewel, are you _crazy_?"

"No. We've got a third tube. And I'll ask Louis to pull. You don't mind, do you, Louis?"

The fourth seagull, who had been quietly sitting next to Pablo and the kids, shook his head. "Not at all."

"Great!" She turned back to the water. "Guys! Wait a minute while I get hooked up, okay?"

"You got it, girl!" Nico and Pedro shouted simultaneously.

Blu ran after Jewel as she began to push the third tube into the water. "Jewel, I really don't—"

"Hey, Blu, remember when you admitted you worry too much?"

"Like 30 seconds ago?"

"Yeah. You're doing it again."

"But, Jewel, I just—"

"Blu," she said exasperatingly. "The kids did it and they're alive. Nico and Pedro are doing it and _they're _alive. I think if three fledglings and two birds who are most likely suffering brain damage from firework exposure can survive, I can too."

"Well, _survive, _sure, but what about just getting plain hurt?"

"Aww. That's sweet, Blu. But do you see any injuries on anyone?"

"The kids have scraped knees. Kinda."

"Are you saying that I can't handle scraped knees?"

"No, I'd just rather…um…Jewel, I…um…I forbid you to go."

"_What?_"

Blu held her glare for all of two seconds. "I mean…I give you my blessing."

"_Do I need your blessing?" _

"I mean…have fun."

Jewel continued to glare. "I mean to."

"I love you."

"Uh-huh. Let's go, Louis."

She turned to join Louis, who had finished tying the connecting rope around his leg, wading into the water.

"Jewel? Just…be careful…okay?"

Jewel rolled her eyes, a smile unwittingly crossing her face. She pecked Blu on the cheek. "I will."

* * *

><p>It was not much later that Jewel, Nico, and Pedro were ripping across the ocean, Jewel in the middle with Nico and Pedro on the outsides.<p>

Jewel laughed as salt water sprayed into her face. "GO FASTER!"

Hugo, Jorge, and Louis obeyed Jewel's command, speeding up in sync with each other. The tubers tightened their grips on their toothpicks.

Meanwhile, Blu paced back and forth on shore practically eating his wing off in nervous anticipation of their next whip, of which all three seagulls were exceedingly fond. Only a second later, all three gulls made an almost 90 degree turn, sending Pedro, Jewel, and then Nico into an over 10 mile per hour burst of speed.

Nico could not prevent his tube from colliding head-on with Jewel. The impact jarred his hands from the toothpicks, bouncing his tiny canary body violently off the tube.

He flew through the air towards Jewel, who didn't see him in her peripherals. He smashed into her side; she just managed to keep her balance enough to stay on the tube as Nico scrabbled atop her shoulders.

"NICO! GET OFF ME!"

Nico smiled smugly from his perch. "No way! This is _sweet!_"

Pedro, still successfully on his tube, had begun laughing so hard he couldn't break coherent words through his giggle fits.

Nico pointed at his mildly incapacitated friend. "Pedro agrees."

"With _me_." Jewel moved her wing and shoulders in a mighty effort to throw Nico off.

Hugo glanced behind him, where he found Nico's tube empty. "Did we lose Nico—"

"NO, HE'S ON TOP OF ME!"

Louis, seeing both birds atop his tube, smirked and sped up considerably. Nico was violently thrown backwards, toppling off of Jewel. He tumbled upside-down, smacked his forehead against the tube, and glanced off the flying rubber into the churning wake below.

A look of satisfaction crossed Jewel's face. "_Now _we lost Nico."

Nico emerged a few feet behind the tubes, a big red mark on his forehead. As soon as Pedro saw this he laughed even harder.

"Shut up," Nico muttered, paddling back to his tube. He pulled himself up, wringing out his wings. Then he felt his head and instantly succumbed to panic. "WHERE'S MY CAP?"

"I got it, Uncle Nico!" Rey called from the shore. "Remember? You gave it to me before you started tubing."

"Oh, yeah…"

Pedro's laughter had finally started to abate as he took a deep breath to steady himself and sat up on his tube, glancing towards shore. He squinted. "What's wrong with Blu?"

Jewel and Nico followed Pedro's gaze and simultaneously let out an "Uh-oh."

Blu lay on the beach, completely unresponsive to Rey and Abelina poking him in the side. Javier picked up a handful of sand and sprinkled it over his father's face.

"Mama, I think he fainted."

"Sounds about right. Put down the sand, Javier. That's not going to help." Jewel flew from her tube back to shore, closely followed by Nico and Pedro. She gently shook her mate in the side; a little bit harder than his children's pokes.

Nico motioned for Rey to return his bottle cap, which he ran back to the ocean to fill with water. He managed to transport it across the sand while only losing a minimum splash and handed it to Jewel, who tipped the entire thing onto Blu's face.

The Blue Macaw awoke instantly, taking in a breath and trying to cough at the same time. "Oh—ick—_salt—_"

Nico and Pedro giggled in the background as Jewel sat him up. "What happened, hon?"

"You—you're alive!"

"Yes. I am alive."

"But—Nico—tube—shoulders—"

"I survived."

Blu exhaled to the point of inwardly collapsing. "I got so nervous."

"That you fainted?"

"Well…I lost consciousness."

"Dude, you fainted," Pedro snorted.

Blu glared. "Lost. Consciousness."

"Fain. Ted."

"_My consciousness got lost!"_

"Blu, you fainted," Jewel cut in, tone somewhere between laughter and exasperation. "Why are you so worked up about this? It's not that dangerous."

"It is _so!_"

"Papa, I don't think it's that bad," Javier said, running up to his father's side. "You would like it if you tried."

"Not going to happen."

"But _Papa—_"

"No."

Abelina frowned. "Papa, Javier's right. It's not so bad! If I can do it, you can do it."

Jewel smirked. "Yes, Blu, if your tiny fledgling daughter could do it, I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."

"Probably not," Pedro whispered in Nico's ear.

Although Blu was well within earshot of the cardinal and canary, he ignored them. "No."

"I really think you should give it a try," prompted Jewel.

"No."

"Blu, I'm serious, it's for your own good. Try it out."

"No."

Pedro leaned in by Nico's ear again. "I'll bet you two and a half pennies he doesn't go."

Jewel fluttered her eyelashes and looked at Blu imploringly. "Please?"

"No."

She took a tip from Nico and Pedro and leaned in close to Blu's ear, whispering fervently. With each passing word Blu's eyes grew wider with alarm.

"You _wouldn't—_"

"Oh, I would."

"You're cutting me o—"

Jewel made violent hushing noises and hurriedly covered her mate's mouth. He looked towards the beach, then at her. He barely choked the next part out.

"Fine. I'll do it."

Nico held his hand out to Pedro. "I win."

* * *

><p>Well, there it is. I promise I will do my best to publish the last chapter in a timely manner. Hopefully.<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, I know I said 3 chapters, but...I'm going to have to make it even longer...

HA. KIDDING. This is the last chapter. Here we go.

* * *

><p>Blu's expression was somewhere between hate and pure fear as he stepped onto the awaiting tube. At the moment it was bobbing gently in the water, but the Blue Macaw knew that in less than a minute it would be racing at unnatural speeds across the churning waves. In what kind of a sport was the objective to make staying on the one thing separating you from life and death the hardest possible feat?<p>

Stupid Jewel. And her…femaleness.

The female in question, sitting on the tube to Blu's right, batted her eyelashes. "You're going to love this, Blu."

Stupid Jewel. And her femaleness. "I hate you."

"I love you too."

"Are we going to go?" Pedro asked impatiently. Nico sat next to him, an equally impatient look on his face. The two had agreed to share a tube so all four of them could go at once, and as the two littlest birds, had no problem fitting on a tube together. Besides, as Jorge had put it, adding Nico was like adding air.

"Wait! I'm not ready—"

"JORGE! GO!"

"ALL RIGHT!"

Blu yelped as the tubes started moving. He scrabbled frantically for the toothpicks sticking through the duct tape, and once he was confident in his deathlike grip, glared over at Nico and Pedro. They smirked at him, each nonchalantly holding onto a toothpick like it was not their one chance at survival, but rather a balloon they didn't want to lose at a fair.

Fools.

The speed rose, and with it, so did the intensity of Blu's grip. His expression must have tightened as well, because Jewel glanced over and started laughing.

"Blu, honey, they're not even going fast yet, we're going like two miles an hour."

"That's two miles an hour too fast!"

"GO PAPA!" Blu's attention was momentarily diverted from Jewel's face to the beach, where three little blue specks jumped up and down and waved ferociously.

"Your kids think you're brave."

"They're not going to have a father to think well of at the end of this." Blu was about to add another snarky comment, but the speed suddenly upped, startling him into practically crushing the toothpicks in his grip. "TOO FAST TOO FAST TOO FAST TOO FAST."

"GO FASTER!"

"NO! PEDRO!"

The seagulls didn't seem to take stock in Blu's opinion at all, because the tubes suddenly went from gliding to racing speed. As the speed grew, so did the intensity of the waves, and Blu experienced his first taste of tube turbulence.

He didn't like it at all.

He screamed as he bounced to and fro on the tube, trying desperately to stay on something solid, no matter how questionable that solidity may be. His left foot slipped and touched the water, and he quickly pulled it back in, surprised that the sheer sucking velocity of the water beneath him had not dragged him down to its murky depths.

Huh.

Laughter on each side accompanied his screams, mocking their very existence. Blu frowned and glared at the party birds' tube, where Nico and Pedro were rather enjoying trying to push the other off. Pedro seemed to be winning.

"BLU! How are you liking it?"

Blu tore his eyes away from the fight breaking out on the tube to his left. "NOT AT ALL, JEWEL."

"Oh, come on! You haven't fallen off once!"

"Yeah, by some MIRACLE."

"Well, I guess if you'd like to stop—"

Blu was about to voice his hearty agreement to this suggestion when his tube suddenly sped to the right. It grew closer to Jewel with every second, but then again Jewel's tube was also coursing off to the right at an alarming speed.

He had been whipped.

The spike in speed alone elicited a scream from Blu, but he suddenly slammed into Jewel's tube, his tight grip the only reason he didn't fly off. The solid impact stopped the scream short in his mouth, and before he could get another one through, another slam came from behind. He felt tiny feathers graze his for a second, and looked over to see Nico halfway between his tube and Blu's.

The whip straightened out as suddenly as it had occurred, and Nico and Pedro's tube veered the other way, Nico violently popping back from mid-air and slamming into Pedro. The two could not stop laughing, despite the fact that Nico had just avoided a very painful death by suffocation between two tubes.

Blu's tube had barely gotten back on course before it veered to the left. His sigh of relief caught halfway in his throat when he realized the seagulls had followed their whip with _another _one, sending them in the opposite direction and exponentially increasing their velocity.

Blu didn't even have time to scream before his tube smacked into Nico and Pedro's. The collision jarred their hands from their respective toothpicks, and they might have been able to grab on again fast enough if Jewel hadn't slammed into Blu immediately after.

The second collision sent shock waves through Blu's tube to Nico and Pedro's, who had no hope of grabbing onto anything stationary on their fairly vibrating tube. They were still moving; the speed grew with every second, not to mention the intensity of the waves they were continually bouncing over.

A second later they hit a particularly large wave head-on. The tube practically threw Nico and Pedro off, and they were a good foot in the air before they dropped like dumbbells.

They landed right on top of Blu.

Pedro slammed into Blu first, knocking him down flat on the tube. Blu struggled to push himself up, but Nico landed on top of Pedro seconds after, sending Blu right back to the face-down position. The sudden increase of weight on that tube sent it coursing to the right, where it collided with Jewel.

The collision tipped the tube, and Nico slipped from the top of the bird-pile straight onto Jewel. He sent her dangerously close to the edge, but she managed to stay her balance, her frantic swaying moving the tube back and forth with a dangerous intensity.

Pedro had just managed to clamber off of Blu when the swaying tipped Nico back onto the middle tube. Blu sat up only to be kicked down again by a face full of canary.

By now, the tube was going even faster, and the tube was not nearly big enough to support three birds. Blu felt his tail feathers grazing the water, and sheer survival instinct took over: he pushed Nico off.

Nico went right back onto Jewel's tube.

"NICO! GO AWAY!"

"YOUR BOYFRIEND PUSHED ME ON HERE!"

Both tubes, still dangerously close to one another, rocked against another large wave. Jewel and Nico received the brunt of it: the hit was so solid that water pushed its way over the edges of the tube, falling down like rain onto the two birds, who were already having a tough time staying on without grasping the toothpick handles. The water made the surface slippery, and Jewel finally lost her balance. She tipped over right on top of Nico, smashing him in a very awkward position between the two tubes while she slammed in between Blu and Pedro on the middle one. Nico, although more in the water than out of it, managed to cling onto the edge of the middle tube, pulling himself up and grabbing onto one of the toothpicks.

Now all four of them were on one tube.

The seagulls had not failed to notice this.

Taking advantage of the situation, Jorge and Hugo, the two outside tubes, had each grabbed onto a section of rope from Louis. The three seagulls combined made the speed almost triple.

Nico was the only one holding onto a toothpick. Pedro, near the back, clambered over Blu and Jewel to throw a hand on Nico's, all the while trying to push Nico off. Nico braced himself the best he could, trying to deny Pedro the safety of a grip.

Blu, still lying on his stomach, shot his hand out in a desperate attempt to grab the toothpick to his left. His hand hit Jewel's, and suddenly the two Blue Macaws and the cardinal and canary were in two separate fights.

Nico was about to fall off when the tube hit another wave. All four birds bounced dangerously, but Nico, already precariously on the edge, actually lost his footing. His hand still clutched the toothpick, however, which kept him from completely falling off. Instead, he flew out sideways like a flag during a windstorm. The tube coursed to the left, which sent him in a circle around the toothpick. His feet nearly collided with Blu's face, but the Blue Macaw ducked just in time, inadvertently leaving Jewel exposed.

Nico lost his grip on the toothpick and slammed into Jewel (again). Jewel's impressive balancing skills kept her, and Nico, from falling into the water, although she was teetering over the edge. Nico, balancing precariously on Jewel's shoulder, frantically reached for something to hold onto. His hands found Blu's feathers.

Blu felt himself being dragged off the tube. Survival instincts kicked in once again. He practically karate chopped Nico's hands off, following it up with a rough push. The push sent both Nico and Jewel over the edge, both of them hitting with the water with such force that spray rose up and doused Blu and Pedro.

The spray sent Blu reeling back. Pedro, sensing an unprecedented opportunity, stuck his foot out. Blu tripped backwards, although he wasn't quite near enough the edge to fully fall off—instead, he landed rudely on his back, rocking and vibrating the entire tube. Pedro tottered, nearly falling on top of Blu. Blu responded by punching and kicking the cardinal simultaneously.

The combined force of Blu's defensive mechanisms sent Pedro soaring in front of the tube. For a split second, the cardinal had hold of the connecting rope, his little feet dangling dangerously into the water. Then the tube hit a wave, which pushed Pedro straight into the side of the tube, where he rested, face-first, against the burning rubber for only a second before the churning water dragged him down.

Blu put one hand on each of the toothpicks, silently thanking the gods above that he had room to breathe.

The tube slowed down, and Blu realized that this was because he was alone.

Relief, shock, concern, and paranoia all buffeted him at once. He whipped around to see Jewel, Nico, and Pedro bobbing in the water, looking at the Blue Macaw with open mouths. The children staring from the beach looked no less aghast.

"You _punched _me," Pedro said as he gasped for breath. "_And _kicked me. AT THE SAME TIME."

"You almost cut off my hand!" Nico cried.

"You pushed me off!" Jewel toned.

Blu remained silent, trembling so much the tube was almost vibrating.

"Are you okay?"

Blu finally opened his mouth, although words didn't flow out right away. He gulped before announcing, "That. Was. AWESOME."

All three birds floating in the water physically reeled back. "What?"

"THAT WAS THE COOLEST THING I'VE EVER DONE."

"You almost killed us!" Nico practically squeaked.

"DID YOU SEE ME? I WAS LIKE PISHAW! AND FWIPA! AND BAYAAAA!"

Pedro cocked his head. "Are those even noises?"

"YOU TRIED TO KICK ME OFF! AND YOU COULDN'T! BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Jewel rolled her eyes. "Well this figures."

Blu was now strutting to and fro on his tube, his trembling having completely evaporated. "YEAH! THAT'LL TEACH YOU TO MESS WITH TYLER BLU GUNDERSON! TYLER BLU GUNDERSON OWNED THAT TUBE!"

"Now he's using third person…"

"I'm sorry, who beat Tyler Blu Gunderson? Oh, that's right. NO ONE."

"We never should have introduced him to tubing," Nico said drily. "Nice going, Jewel."

"WHO'S UP FOR ROUND TWO?"

"**NO.**"

"What?"

"I ain't goin' back on there with you!" Pedro said adamantly.

"I was more scared during that than when I got hit by a firework!" Nico agreed.

"Blu, honey, I'd honestly rather teach you to fly again."

"No one's going tubing with me? Why?"

Pedro actually tried to paddle backwards as he stated, with a note of finality, "You're scary."

* * *

><p>The tubes were in, the seagulls had bid goodbye, and Blu's adrenaline had finally run its course a few minutes later.<p>

"I mean, guys, you _have _to admit that I was pretty sweet—"

"We did!" Nico and Pedro cried simultaneously as they pushed the kids, whose mouths were still agape, towards their mother.

"Blu, we'll hide the tubes in a bush or something tonight and do it again later," she said. "Honestly."

"We already told you we'd set up a tournament," Nico added. Everyone else's fear had abated along with Blu's adrenaline, and everyone, even the kids, was excited at the prospect of a new game.

"I know, I know! But I was _awesome!_"

"WE KNOW."

"Papa," Javier finally said, his mouth finally managing to form a word, "will you teach me your ways?"

"Yes, son. I will teach you."

"Wait! I want to learn too!"

"You are also my son, Rey. You are included."

"What about me?"

"Abelina, you may also learn."

"Can we tube tomorrow night?"

"We're going to The Branch tomorrow night."

"We are?"

"Well, we as in me and your mother."

All three kids stopped walking and wheeled around to angrily face their father. "What?"

"Oh, I don't think you were supposed to know that…"

"No, they weren't." Jewel frowned at Blu. "Kids, you'll be asleep by then anyway."

"Are you performing?" Javier asked Pedro.

"Yeah." Nico punched Pedro in the arm. "I mean no."

"I thought The Branch was okay!"

"Only for sometimes, Javier," Jewel said. "Now let's get going, we can't walk all the way to our tree."

"BUT I WANNA GO TOO!"

"With that kind of attitude, you're definitely not going," Jewel deadpanned. "Come on, let's go. Flap those wings."

Javier, Rey, and Abelina sulkily took off, flying just a little bit faster than normal to put greater distance between them and their parents. Jewel rolled her eyes and glared sideways at Blu.

"What?" he asked. "When we get home I'll just tell him I'll push him off a tube if he keeps sulking."

Jewel laughed and ascended into the air. Blu blinked at her departing form and glanced at Nico and Pedro. "What'd I say?"

They shrugged, chuckled, and flew away. "We'll see you tomorrow night!"

"Yeah." Blu shook his head and rapidly took to the air to catch up to Jewel. "WAIT! JEWEL! We are going tubing again, aren't we?"

* * *

><p>The end. Just a cute fluff. And yes, I totally put in a lead-in to my next story, they are going to The Branch tomorrow night. We'll just see if anything...*ahem*...special andor interesting...happens there. Yeah.

;)


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